Magic and Ember
by Suwako The Frog
Summary: Dealing with Ember can be rather interesting. Especially when that Ember opens a cross-dimensional portal to a mystical land of Illusion.


**Magic and Ember**

**By: Suwako the Frog**

**Chapter 1: Introductions**

The harsh winds of the Mana Waste blew into a lone Engineer's face. He put on his bronze goggles and continued through the barren desert. No planet life grew in this part of the Mana Waste, only citadels of red rock dotted the horizon. The only thing of any use here was Ember. Bundles of the precious magical crystal was in droves here. But many died getting to the fabled cave of Ember, and only very few have gotten out alive. This Engineer was persistent though. He had been planning everything for months, buying good gear and learning from the masters of his trade. If anyone could get to that cave, it was him. Then, the sound of footsteps filled his ears, and he pulled his massive spanner, and deployed his healing robot. A group of Ezrohir soldiers came over the hill, their weapons raised and the largest of them made a crushing symbol. The Ezrohir charged the Engineer, moving at sonic speed towards him.  
The Engineer raised his weapon into the air, and smashed into the ground, knocking two of the Ezrohir back with large, Ember charged fissures. The large one threw it's large hand out, grabbing the Engineer, and pulling him towards the Ezrohir, punching him square in the jaw as he came close. The Engineer reeled back from the pain, leaving the hulking Ezrohir in front of him time to smash him into the sand, making blood come out of his nose. The Ezrohir made what could only be deciphered as a laugh, to be cut off by a ferret ripping off it's large mechanical head. The Ezrohir stumbled around blindly, and the Engineer destroyed the core of it's armor, killing it and making it fall limp to the ground. The other two were getting up from the blast that knocked them back. The Engineer pulled out a cluster of spheres from his pocket, and tossed them at the Ezrohir. As soon as the spheres hit the ground, they opened into little spider mines, which scurried along the ground and jumped at the Ezrohir,exploding and shattering them into pieces.

The Engineer was wounded quite a bit from the Ezrohir, blood still dripping from his now swollen and inflamed nose. He pulled out a vial of a thick, viscious red liquid and gulped it down. As soon as he did so, the nose began to return to normal, and blood stopped dripping from it. He got up, his ferret going into his pack, and continued through the blazing hot desert in front of him.

Earlier, elsewhere in the Mana Waste -

A small shanty town stood strong in the center of the Mana Waste, buildings of clay bricks and mortar stood as the only settlement for fifty or so miles. This was the small village of Zeracht, once a mining operation, which eventually grew into the small village over time. The guard force is small, that of a dozen Zeraphi soldiers, who for the most part, just sat around and did nothing, as nothing ever happened here. Well, until today, that is. The watchguard sat lazily in the main watchtower, occasionally glancing up from the book he was reading. Then, he notcied something on the horizon, over the dunes. It was a huge black blob of Ezrohir soldiers, marching through the dunes. He sounded the alert, and picked up his rifle, only to be instantly killed as he reached for it. They came in many forms, that of Marksmen and Snatchers, Infantry and the speedy Assasins. The guards set up lines, knocking out lines of the Ezrohir one by one, but the force was too powerful, and broke through the line in less than thirty seconds. The village was in flames in no time.

On the side of the village opposite to the enemy's side came a man along with a hooded figure. The tall man wore a red bandana on his tanned head, and had deep emerald eyes. He drew a handgun from his holster, and a glaive from the other. The hooded figure's shape was indicernable, with the only factor you could see were glowing turquoise eyes. The figure carried a large staff, with a large purple Ember in the end of it. The Ezrohir went through the village with frightening speed, destroying buildings in seconds. The man whipped out the glaive and threw it into the crowd, knocking out some and killing others. His handgun clicked into motion, bullets hitting enemies in the crowd with inhuman precision. The hooded figure held out a hand, and threw out a series of prismatic bolts, locking on to the Ezrohir, and taking them down a notch. A Snatcher whipped it's arm out at the man, only for the man to cut it in twain, then grabbing the arm and flinging it into the crowd, knocking back a few. The hooded figure slammed the staff into the ground, causing fireballs to rain from the sky right onto enemy troops. Garbled screams erupted from the Ezrohir, as they burned and exploded in seconds. To finish them off, the man then set a dial on the side of his gun, and shot a flurry of bullets into the air. They then came down all around the enemy forces, coating them in poison tipped bullets. What remained of the force retreated back into the dunes within minutes.

The man then spoke in a gruff voice. "Pathetic, aren't they?"

The hooded figure spoke in a much more feminine voice. "No. Desperate. The defeat that they suffered is forcing them to do things like this, for survival. Not all Ember is equal in the Mana Waste."

"True. Some group raided their base, right?" the man asked.

The hooded one pulled off the hood, revealing a girl with black hair, of Estherian blood. "Yes Adrian. I've never seen them as desperate as this though. I guess they finally ran out of Ember."

"It doesn't matter right now though. At least the village is safe. Now, let's hope the bastards didn't get that Ember." Adrian said, putting his handcannon back into it's holster. The two walked down the path, to the largest building in the village, built into the side of one of the rocky citadels that stretched into the yellow-tinted sky. Inside were several Zeraphi civilians, along with a single soldier carrying a large spear and a shield.

"Anyone hurt here?" asked the Estherian.

"Luckly, no. At least someone got here in time." the Zeraphi said.

"They didn't get any of the Ember, did they?" Adrian asked.

"You drove them back before they could get any of it, or if they did, only a minute amount." the Zeraphi explained.

"Then we're in the clear. Tell me, what is in the dircetion the Ezrohir came from?" Adrian inquired.

Another Zeraphi stood up. "Bad things. They say one of the Manticore has a lair out there, and that it is filled with Ember. No one has ever returned from going out there."

"That intrigues me. Tell me, do you know the exact location of this lair?" The Estherian asked.

"No one knows, it's just a rumor, a rumor that has a lot of leverage behind it." the Zeraphi replied.

Adrian cracked a smirk. "Maybe we could tail them back to where they came from and finish them off."

"That's a dangerous plan, but it could work. We hope this village can repari itself, and we wish you luck." With that remark, the Embermage and the Outlander set off into the dunes.

**This chapter is merely an introduction, as the title of the chapter suggests, the Touhou side of the story will be told later.**


End file.
